North Kirklees drink-drivers snared by police

Drink-drivers from across the district have been charged following a Christmas crackdown by West Yorkshire Police.

Among those charged were five people who were stopped and tested in Dewsbury, one in Cleckheaton, one in Mirfield, two in Batley and one in Liversedge.

Overall, 149 people were charged with drink driving offences last month in West Yorkshire. The youngest were two 18-year-old men.

In West Yorkshire, the proportion of women charged with drink or drug driving offences has risen for each of the last five years. This trend is replicated nationally with the amount of women convicted of drink driving almost doubling in the past 15 years from nine per cent in 1998 to 17 per cent in 2012.

But the majority of offenders are still men and just one in five people charged in West Yorkshire was a woman.

Insp Joanne Field, who leads West Yorkshire Police’s roads policing unit, said: “Every year at Christmas a handful of people take their lives into their hands and get behind the wheel while over the prescribed limit.

“We have seen a drop in the number of charges during this year’s December campaign which is in line with a national trend, but every one person that takes the risk is one person too many. The number of young people choosing to drive while under the influence is also a cause for concern, especially as Government figures show that young men are more likely to die behind the wheel than any other age group.”